Slant rolling



March 11, 1941. A. LAUER sLANT ROLLING` Filed Jan'.

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thickness around Patented Mar. 11, 1941 UNITED STATES PATENT oi-'FICE 2,234,182 'SLANT ROLLING Ambrosius Lauer, Karlsruhe, Germany Application January In Germany 7 Claims.

This invention relates to a slant rolling process and apparatus for rolling out profiled pieces of hollow bodies which have been produced in a tube rolling, pressing, drawing or other operation.

It is an object of the invention to provide means for changing the articles, more particularlyrof the ends thereof, in a rolling operation and without a mandrel being required.

A special object lof the invention is to provide means for contracting-hollow metal articles, for example tubular pieces without a mandrel, in a simple and quick operation, in which the formation of folds and undue stresses of the material is avoided and a round product of uniform wall the center axis is produced.

Still a further object is to provide means by which the distribution of the material of the work piece can be controlled in the desired manner and thickened portions can be produced where required.

A further special object of the invention is to provide means for producing the neck and bottom portions of metal bottles, for instances, steel bottles and similar articles.

With these and other objects in view, as may become apparent from the following disclosures,

, apparatus, but viewed in the invention consists not onlyV of the structures and operations herein pointed out and illustrated by the drawing, tures and operations coming within the scope of what hereinafter may be claimed.

The character of the inventiomhowever,- may be best understood by reference to certain of its structural forms, as illustrated by the accompanying drawing in which- Fig. 1 is a side elevation, viewed in the direction of the arrow A in Fig. 3, of a roller apparatus having. the invention applied thereto, the studs between the'bearing plates being omitted.

Fig. 2 is a side-elevation of the same roller the directionof the arrow B in Fig. 3.

. Fig. 3 is a plan view of the roller apparatus with the upper bearing plate omitted.

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary sectional view IV-IV of Fig. 3 and on a larger scale.

Figs. 5 to 7 are lfragmentary axial sections of a work piece to which the method according to the invention has been applied.

Fig. 8 is a similar fragmentary section of the tubular workpiece before the method according to the invention has been applied.

on line shape of hollow metal but includes further struc-V 9,1939, Serial No. 249,988

January 5, 1938 Similar reference .numerals denote similar parts in the different views.

Referring now to the drawing in greater detail, the roller head comprises two bearing plates I and 2 which are connected by studs I1, Figs. 3 and 4. Rotatably mounted between the said side plates, on shafts 1, 8, 9 and I0, are four inclined profile rollers, viz, two draw rollers similar size and two counter draw rollers 5 5, roller 5 in this case being shorter than roller 6. The profile which is to be rolled out in this case is the neck of a bottle Il, Figs. 1 and 2 which is held in a chuck 2|, Fig, 1. Clamped between the side plates'l and 2 is a guiding block I2 which is recessed in accordance with the profile -shape II- of `the bottle neck to form a mould which serves as a guidance or fold retaining member for the bottle neck by which the formation of undesirable folds is prevented in the rolling out operation. The block I2 extends with its upper end through the upper bearing plate I and with its lower end into a recess in the lower bearing plate 2 and it may be clamped between the said plates in any suitable manner. As will be seen from the drawing, Figs. 1 and 2, the guide block I2 forms a guidance extends beyond 5 and 6 and also beyond the ends of the larger rollers 3 and I at both sides. The mould in the guide block is somewhat larger than the shape of the bottle neck which is to be made, but the clearance between the mould in the guide block and thebottle neck is not shown in the drawing. The profile rollers which enclose the ,bottle neck and serve to roll out the same extend into the mould in the guide block` I2, through slots I3, Il, I5 and I6 thereof which, however, are not substantially larger than the portions of the rollers extending therethrough, in order to prevent the materialof the workpiece from entering into said recesses at the lateral or end edges thereof.

The roller shafts 1, 8, S and I0 are mounted in the bearing plates I and 2 in a manner to permit adjustment of the inclination of the roller axes. To this end, eccentric bushes may be provided in the bearing plates ing of which through a certain angle the, position of the respective shaft in the bearing plate can be adjusted, such an arrangement being shown in Fig. 4 with reference to the shaft 1 of roller 4. As will be seenfrom this gure, an eccentric sleeve 22 is seated in a bore of the bearing plate 2, and held therein ina fixed position bythe pressure exerted upon vits flange or collar` for the work piece which the ends of the smaller rollersby rotation or swing- [grees of inclination of the shaft and a tapered washer 26`is inserted between the nut I4 and the collar 23 in addition to a. normal washer 21; to make up for the inclination of the nut with respect to the sleeve: Similarly, spacer sleeves 28 and 29 are provided between the roller 4 and the sleeve 22, the sleeve 28 of 'which is obliquely feo cut off at its lower end to engage the sleeve 22V smoothly while sleeve 29 has parallel end faces and serves to define the axial 'position of the roller 4 withvrespectto the bearing plate 2. In this manner, lateral, and axial displacements of the largedraw'rollers 3 and 4 by 1 to 5 mm. and more with respect tothe lower bearing plate may beeiected in order to adjust the rollers in accordance with the profile to be rolled out and to close the mouth piece'lend of the bottle neck or the bottle bottom, respectively, if desired. The large draw rollers 3 and 4 are providedy with cylindrical supercies portions bywhich the cylindrical portion 2| of the bottle neck is formed as-pervFig. 7. n' l My novel roller device may be operated by rotating the work piece with respect to a station- 'ary roller device or by rotating the roller'device with respect to a stationary workpiece.

In the rst mentioned case, the chuck 2|',

Fig, 1T, will be rotated in a suitable manner-andl in the direction indicated bythe arrow, andv the roller device may bel'clamped on a base plate while in the second mentioned case, the.,chuck 2l will be held stationary and the roller apparatus will be rotated by suitable means (not l "shown').\ The rollers may be idlerunning on their shafts for a drive by the relative movement between the roller device and the work piece,

.but it is also contemplated toF provide a positive drive for the rollers, or any of them. To this end, their shafts on which they are vi'lixedly mounted may extend through the lower bearing 'plate 2, as shown with -reference to'shaft l in Fig. 1, and coupled with a4 driving shaft 3I' by a universal joint or coupling 32- which compensates the inclination of the shaft 1.

Itwill thus be understood from the foregoing that the device yoperates in thissrnannerv that the workpiece II which may be in the form of la smooth', cylindrical rolled, pressed or drawn tube as indicated in Fig. 8 is fixedly engaged in a chuck 2l' as shown in Fig. 1. and fed with.

said chuck, by axial movement thereof in the direction of thearrow 33, into theguide' block I2, while Vrotating the chuck in thedirection of the arrow 34 relatively to the roller device. The

front end of the tube is thus engaged bythe portions of the .rollers 3, 4, 5, 6 projecting from the slots I6, I4, I3, I5, respectively, and contracted or compressed to the shape shown in Fig. 5. It will be clear that the rolls 3, 4, 5' and 6 are rotatedby engagement of the rotating' work piece `Il while. the roller frame I, 2 with the bearings for the roller shaft and the guide block l2 remainsstationary on the 'baseplate 30.

I have found that by the provision of one' or more counter draw rollers 5, 6 of the opposite inclination with respectv to the Adraw rollers 3 and 4, in the manner shown in the drawing, it

` iS Possible to control the deformation of the material of 'the work piece in the desired manner while preserving vthe uniform wall thickness.

around the center axisand the round shape of the work piece. For example, if the draw rollers 3 and 4 have an inclination with respect tothe center-axis I-I of the roller device of, say '7 and the counter draw rollers 5 and E have the `same, inclination in an opposite direction the material will be concentrated at the bottle neck, in the manner shown in Fig; 5.y Now, in a furdevice or on a second device of similar construction, by adjusting roller 3 to have an inclination of about 8, roller 5 of 5, roller 4 of 7 and `ther operation carried out thereafter on the same roller 6 `to have an opposite inclination of 3,

the prole shown in Fig. 6 may be obtained. In this case, roller 3 attracts the material, roller 5 retains the material to a certain extent, vroller .4- which is less inclined than roller ,3 attracts the material somewhat more and roller l6 servesas a counter draw roller for-.upsetting the material. 'I'he prole according to Fig. 6 may then be -rolled further to obtain the iinal shape as per Fig, 7. In'this operation, the guiding block I2 which extends beyond the end of* the large prevents the formation of an elliptic cross section of the neck as produced by the known processes.

Also, -undue stresses of the. material folds and roller serves as a fold retaining member which f as composed of three separate sections 31, 38, 39 j of different average diameter corresponding to a diierent speed.. The remaining rollers may be similarly subdivided.

Thus, undesirable slide.

friction between the ,rollers and the work piece is greatly reduced. The speed difference of the various roller portions relatesto both the angular and lineal velocities thereof, since each portion will be imparted the circumferential speed of the portion of the workpiece II- -by which it is engaged, by frictional coupling therewith. y course, it would be rather complicated in this case to use directly driven rollers although this tions. Anyhow, in the arrangement shown in problem might b'e solved by special construc- I' Fig. 2 the portions I1, I8 and I8 are assumed to y be driven by frictional engagement with 'the workpiece only.

It is also contemplated, within the purview of this invention, to provide morel than two oblique draw rollers and one or more than two counterdraw rollers which are oppositely inclined with -4 respect `to the draw rollers. The rollers may be inclined at any desired angle with respect to eac'h other and two or more rollers may have similar inclinations. Depending on the particular work to be performedk on theroller ldevice it is also possible to arrange one or more rollers parallel to the axis I-I of the roller device.

'Ihe number of draw rollers and counterdraw rollers depends upon' the size of the work piece. In case of small diameters, two draw rollers and one counterdraw roller may be arranged, while with larger work pieces two or more draw rollers and two or more counterdraw rollers may be provided, depending on the available space.

`My novel roller apparatus is particularly adapted for'making the neck or the bottom of steel bottles. but it is also possible to make many other hollow articles, such as, gas containers, by suitable shaping and arrangement of the draw rollers and counterdraw rollers after the principles laid down in the present specication,

I am aware that many further changes may be 'made and numerous details ofconstruction may be varied through a wide range without departing from the principles of this invention, and I, therefore, do not purpose limitingv the patent granted hereon otherwise `than is necessitated by the prior art. Slant rolling devices of the general nature of my device are known and disclosed for instance in the U. S. Letters Patent No. 1,665,915 and any features of such known devices may be used in connection with my invention as far as they are suitable therefor.

Iclaim:

1. An apparatus of the kind specified, for rolling hollowvmetal articles in a slant rolling operation and without a mandrel, comprising at least two draw rollers which are inclined ltowards the same side with respect to the axis of the work piece and shaped in accordance with the desired final shape of the article to be produced, at least one roller inclined towards the opposite side and acting as a counterdraw roller, and a guide block forming amould recessed in accordance with the final shape of the article to be produced, said rollers projecting into the mould in said block, through apertures thereof.

2. An apparatus of the kind specified, for rolling hollow metal articles in a slant rolling operation and without a mandrel, comprising at least two draw rollers which are inclined towards the same side with respect to the axis of the work piece and shaped in accordance with the desired final shape of the article to be produced, atleast one roller inclined towards the opposite side and acting as a counterdraw roller, and a guide block forming a mould recessed in accordance with the final shape of the article to be produced and extending at least at one side, beyond the ends of all rollers, said rollers projecting into the mould in said guide block, through apertures thereof.

3. An apparatus of the kind specified, for rolling hollow metal articles in a slant rolling operation and without a mandrel, comprising a frame, at least two draw rollers which are rotatably mount= ed in said frame in inclined positions towards the same side with respect to the axis of the work piece and shaped in accordance with the desired final shape of the article to be produced, at least one roller rotatably mounted in said frame in an inclined position towards the opposite .side and acting as a counterdraw roller, and a guide block fixedly secured to said frame and forming a mould recessed in accordance with the final shape of the article to be produced, said rollers projecting into the mould in said guide block, through apertures thereof.

4. An apparatus of the kind speciiied, for rolling l hollow metal articles in 'a slant rolling operation and without a mandrel, comprising a frame, at

least three rollers rotatably mounted in said frame in differently inclined positions, means adapted to displace the positions of the center axes of said rollers with respect to said frame to adjust separately the angle of' inclination of each roller with respect to the center axis of the work piece and a guide block iixedly secured to said frame and forming a mould recessed in accordance with the rately the position of each roller with respect to the work piece and a guide block fixedly secured to said frame and forming a mould recessed in accordance with the final shape of the article to be produced, said rollers projecting into the mould in said guide block, through apertures thereof.

6. An apparatus Aof the kind specified, for rolling hollow metal articles in a slant rolling operation and without a mandrel, comprising at least two draw rollers which are inclined towards the same side with respect to the axis of the work piece and shaped in accordance with the desired final shape of the article to be produced, at least one roller inclined towards the opposite side and acting as a counterdraw roller, and a guide block forming a mould recessed in accordance with the final shape of the article to be produced, said rollers projecting into the mould in said block, through apertures thereof and being composed oir a plurality of separate axial sections which are capable of rotation at different speeds.

7. An apparatus of the kind specified, for rolling hollow metal articles in a slant rolling operation and without a mandrel, comprising atleast two draw rollers which are inclined towards the same side with respect to the axis of the work piece and shaped in accordance with the desired nnal shape of the article to be produced. at least one roller inclined towards the opposite side and acting as a counterdraw roller, and a guide block forming a mould recessed in accordance with the final shape of the article to be produced, said rollers projecting into the mould in said block, through apertures thereof, said rollers fitting through said apertures, without any substantial clearance between sald rollers and said apertures in an axial direction.

, AMBROSIUS LAUER. 

